


Compos Mentis

by Fudgyokra



Category: Gravity Falls, Over the Garden Wall (Cartoon)
Genre: Aged-Up Character(s), Bad End Friends, Demonic Possession, Demons, Drama, Emotional/Psychological Abuse, Gen, Minor Violence, Possession, Supernatural Elements
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-16
Updated: 2017-02-05
Packaged: 2018-09-09 00:55:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 8,279
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8869501
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fudgyokra/pseuds/Fudgyokra
Summary: "I'll do it!" he said, reaching blindly out into the darkness in a void effort to grasp anything tangible. "I'll take the deal!"





	1. The Beginning

Where the ground was white with snow, the sky was bone gray.

Wirt did not remember how he and Greg had come to be lost in the woods, but he knew precisely how they were going to leave. After all, what else could he do? He couldn’t just watch the Beast’s grip on his brother tighten with every second he stayed silent. The branches grew at an alarmingly fast rate, but his mouth moved faster.

“I’ll make you a deal,” Wirt pleaded desperately. “Let my brother go.”

The Beast’s wicked grin was suddenly all Wirt could see; he blinked to clear his vision, but still all he could see was blinding white teeth, everything around them pitch black no matter where he looked.

“What will you do to save him?” the Beast asked, voice soft but dripping with poison. The air around Wirt suddenly smelled like rot and blood; he had to concentrate hard on not gagging.

“Anything!” he exclaimed, standing stark-still while the night threw his voice back at him. He sounded like a frightened child, and something in him had to ask if that wasn’t exactly what he was. “I’ll do anything.”

“No!” the Woodsman yelled, his voice slicing through the silence like a knife. “Don’t do a thing that despicable monster says!”

“But your brother…” The Beast slowly extended his arm to point at Greg, whose suddenly-illuminated body was shown on the verge of being swallowed by bark. Wirt could see that Beatrice’s efforts to strip the wood were proving fruitless. Then, just as suddenly, the image turned to black again.

“What can I give you?” Wirt asked, ignoring the Woodsman’s plea. “What can I do?”

Between the Woodsman’s stern yells and Beatrice’s calls for help, Wirt’s skull felt like it was about to split. Still, he kept his eyes trained on the only thing he could still see. Those teeth were practically fluorescent, now that he was up close. Fluorescent and sharp. Slowly, slowly, they parted so that the Beast could speak.

“You will take my place.”

Everything around him was background noise now, and no amount of screaming could penetrate the wall of frantic thought that Wirt had built up. He squeezed his eyes shut, feeling dread settle in his stomach.

“I’ll do it!” he said, reaching blindly out into the darkness in a void effort to grasp anything tangible. “I’ll take the deal!”

//

Gravity Falls was not nearly so nice in the winter, Dipper thought. He and his sister had to toddle through several inches of snow just to get to the front door of the Mystery Shack, where their great uncles would be arriving within the next couple of days to meet them.

The twins’ first semester in college had just come down to an end, leaving them with a three-week winter break that they decided to use to visit what was usually their summertime vacation destination.

By the time they’d arrived it was almost sundown and the Shack had just hit closing time. Soos greeted them at the door with a bear hug that still easily enveloped both of them, despite the fact they were grown. “Welcome back, dudes!”

“Hey, Soos!” the twins said in unison, allowing themselves to be briefly smothered by the man’s enthusiastic embrace. Once their feet touched the ground they began hauling their things upstairs to their usual bedroom. Eighteen or not, sharing a room had never been a problem for them during their stays, despite Stan’s insistence on turning Ford’s lab into a spare bedroom (to Ford’s discontent) for one of them to use. Dipper tended to spend more time outdoors, anyway, so there wasn’t really an issue.

In fact, as soon as he had moved all of his things upstairs, Dipper’s first prospective destination was the woods. He’d always loved them, so for his first day in town he planned to beat nightfall to his favorite clearing, snow be damned. That, as it turned out, was easier said than done. What was a fairly short trip in the summer took longer than expected when snow was an obstacle, but he did manage to make it before the sun set.

It looked just like he remembered it, only the trees were bare.

Dipper inhaled the evening air and let out a satisfied hum. Sometimes Gravity Falls felt more like home than Piedmont did, he thought.

He was only able to dwell on the thought for a brief moment, however, before something caught his eye. Something was nestled between the branches to his right, and whatever it was, it was glowing. _That’s weird_ , he thought, pushing up his glasses to get a better look. It appeared to be a lantern.

“Hello?” he said, hesitantly taking a step toward the light. “Who’s there?” When he asked, he had not been prepared for the answer.

It was a young man that stepped out of the shadow, not much older than him from the looks of it. His eyes glowed a myriad of different colors that rendered Dipper dumbstruck, and from each of his temples long, branch-like antlers protruded. The glowing light that Dipper had seen at first was the lantern in the man’s hand, aflame despite the fact it was not especially dark outside.

Cautiously, Dipper took a step forward. As soon as he did, the other pulled the lantern back as though he were worried Dipper might touch it. “Who are you?” he asked. His voice was beautiful but eerie. It almost seemed to echo itself.

“I’m Dipper,” he answered, looking the man up and down curiously. His looks were off-putting, but Dipper had seen stranger creatures in the woods. Aside from the glow in his eyes and the antlers, this man looked perfectly normal—an attractive albeit gangly guy who stood about half a foot above Dipper, nothing strange there. And yet, Dipper pondered, something didn’t seem right about him. “Who are you?”

The stranger didn’t answer. Instead, he looked into Dipper’s eyes with such focus that he felt momentarily as though he were being read like a book.

“Hello?” he asked, a little uneasy now. Maybe he shouldn’t have ventured out here alone.

“Who I am isn’t important,” the man finally said. “But who _you_ are interests me very much.”

Dipper could feel goosebumps rising on his arms. “That’s not the first time I’ve heard that,” he said, laughing once uneasily.

Of all the answers he’d expected, “I know” was not among them.

Everything in him told him to run, from the burning in his gut to the rapidly-growing smile on the other’s face. The man’s teeth looked needle-sharp, and Dipper didn’t really want to stick around and find out. “What do you want from me?” he asked.

Again, the man did not answer and replied instead with, “I can see that your mind is like a map—a map of your worst fears.”

Dipper’s eyes widened. “What are you—”

The man took a step closer to him and bent down to his height. Before Dipper knew it, their faces were centimeters apart. The other’s eyes felt like they were burning holes into his own, but he didn’t dare blink. “You stick tacks in all the haunting memories like they’re vacation destinations you visit over and over again. They’re as much a part of you as anything, so when you try to remove the tack, you bleed and bleed like something important has been torn from you.” The man grabbed Dipper’s chin with spindly fingers and continued to study him as though he were some sort of creature himself.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Dipper lied, trying hard not to fidget.

“You need those pinpricks, those needles…you need them to remind you who you are and what you fought for. You can pull them out all you want, but then what? All you’re left with is a mind full of holes, full of emptiness.”

“Stop it,” Dipper all but croaked, trying to pry the other’s fingers from his face to no avail.

“I can see your fears,” he said calmly. “You’ve gotten so attached to them that you don’t know who you’d be without them.”

Dipper took a shaky breath. “Why are you doing this?”

Quietly, the man straightened and lifted his lantern so that it hung right in front of Dipper’s nose. “I want something from you.”

“Why me?” Dipper asked, looking away from the light.

“A little birdie told me you’re just what I was looking for.”

Dipper’s blood ran cold. “Who might that birdie be?”

“Let’s call him an old friend.”

The stranger retracted the lantern and snapped his fingers, sending painful prickles across Dipper’s skin until it covered his entire body. He felt like he was being stung repeatedly, and it wasn’t long before he was a coil on the ground with his nails digging into his sides and his eyes squeezed shut. His resulting yell was strangled—definitely too quiet for anyone to hear him. He was trapped in his private hell while this…beast of a man looked on, eyes glowing, expression blank.

“He says if you want this to stop, you’ll have to promise us a little favor.”

It felt as if his skin was being pulled so tight it might tear. Past the tears welling in his eyes he could just barely make out the familiar figure floating next to the strange man’s head. Everything in him seized up suddenly, and he realized with a sinking feeling that if he didn’t agree to whatever they wanted, he might just die here, alone in the woods.

“What do you want?” he said through gritted teeth.

“Well, Pine Tree,” the familiar figure said with rapturous glee, “I want you!”


	2. In Medias Res

The two of them were experts at many things: spreading fear, bringing people to their knees, watching chaos unfold without batting an eye. What they were not good at, however, was getting along. It wasn’t that they were a bad team, the two of them, it was just that they didn’t quite see eye to eye. Within a day of each other’s company they saw their first argument, beginning with nothing more than one wrong word.

“You are too cocky,” the Beast said, tone as emotionless as ever.

“You’re just mad that I’m more exciting than you are, Wirt,” the demon returned with a flashy grin. “I made those people’s hearts race; I made them sweat! _You_ … Well, all you did was make them cry. I can do that in my _sleep_.”

Wirt refused to meet Bill’s (well, Dipper’s) eyes, giving no indication that he was going to pounce like he did. It was a sudden blur of movement that ended with both of them on the ground, Bill with his arms pinned beneath Wirt’s hands.

“You think you’re smart, huh?” he taunted. “I can leave this body whenever I want, so you can’t just hold me down.”

Wirt didn’t respond, he only let one fly with complete calmness, his fist connecting with Bill’s (well, Dipper’s) face right on the side of his jaw. Bill, as expected, only smiled.

“That was a good one, Gnome Hat, but I think you’re forgetting something!” With that he turned his head to bite down hard on Wirt’s arm. Wirt jerked his arm back only to pull it forward again, landing another punch with more ferocity than before.

Angrily, Bill flew from his puppet’s body, shooting a wave of blue at Wirt to knock him back into the dirt. “Listen pal, we’re supposed to be working _together_ , capiche?”

“I did not start this useless feud,” Wirt replied evenly, getting to his feet and swiping dirt from his slacks. “I would consult your temper for this occurrence.”

“Ohh no you don’t. You definitely started this. You hit me first!”

“You opened your mouth.” Wirt’s eyes glowed dangerously, but Bill could return that gesture with ease.

“You should learn to take a—” He stopped mid-sentence when Wirt’s eyes traveled right past him to look at something else. “Hey, are you listening to me?”

“Certainly not, but someone is.”

Bill swung around to see Dipper running toward him with a branch held high over his shoulder, poised to swing. And swing he did, though Bill had moved out of the way just in time to watch the branch touch down with a thunderous crack on Wirt’s skull. His knees hit the ground, but that was all the damage that could be done; in fact, within seconds he was on his feet again. “Care to contain your puppet?” he asked, voice unwavering.

After a second of mumbling to himself, Bill threw himself back into Dipper’s head, sending the man crashing back against the trunk of a nearby tree. “Sorry, Pine Tree, we had an agreement. I get to knock you around for a while and you get to suck it up.”

“You didn’t give him much of a choice,” Wirt said matter-of-factly.

“Hey, you wanted him, not me. I’ve had it with this kid,” Bill replied.

“Patience is a virtue.”

“When are you gonna take him, anyway? If you keep waiting, yours is gonna find a way to get out and break you to pieces.”

“When it’s time. Like I said, patience is—”

“Yeah, yeah, whatever.” Bill rubbed his hands together. “What I wanna know is when you’re gonna give me what _I_ want. I offered to help keep this skull warm for you and all, but just know I get sick of these stupid noodle arms.”

“Don’t get too excited. I did not bring you a body builder.” Wirt held out an arm to prove his point.

“At least he’s tall,” Bill replied with a shrug. “So what? When’s it gonna be?”

“Whenever I can find what he loves most and take it from him.”

“That’s _it?_ ” Bill exclaimed, splaying his fingers in front of him. “I oughta throttle you, idiot!” Wirt only raised an eyebrow, so Bill shot him a nasty scowl and explained. “His sister!”

“He has a sister, hm?” A thin smile crept across the man’s face. “What excellent news. Take me to her.”

//

“I don’t know what to do, Soos!” Mabel complained, wringing her hands as she paced across the deck of the Mystery Shack. “He took off last night and hasn’t come back!”

“Maybe he crashed in the woods or somethin’ and just decided to wander around town today,” Soos offered, rubbing the back of his neck. “I mean, you dudes aren’t kids anymore. He can take care of himself, right?”

Mabel deflated, then turned toward him. “I guess so. I just thought… I dunno, it seemed weird. He said he would only be gone for a little while, but…”

“But it does sound like something he’d do, doesn’t it?” Soos smiled at her and she managed to bring herself to smile back.

“Haha, yeah it does. I guess I could just go look for him, huh? I know he likes to visit Lazy Susan’s place.” She reached for the coat she’d previously deposited on the register counter and slipped it on to button it around her sweater. Soos had never met someone who hated the cold so much, and he told her so.

She laughed, a sound that she carried all the way to the front door. “I’ll be back in fifteen minutes,” she announced. “Bye, Soos!”

“Bye Mabel!”

With that, she trekked out into the snow, only pausing for a moment to yank the stubborn door closed behind her.

Meanwhile, Soos continued his task of watching the TV that was mounted in the corner of the shop until his next customer wandered in. This, as it turned out, did not take long. He had just become invested in a news program giving information on some trouble in the next town over when the door swung open again, revealing a sunglasses-clad Dipper accompanied by a tall stranger wearing what Soos assumed to be a pair of fake antlers.

“Dude, love the holiday spirit,” he greeted the man, pointing finger guns at him. “Hey, Dipper. Your sister just went looking for you.”

“Ah, Christ,” Bill said, annoyed. “Do you know where she went?”

“Susan’s Diner. She seemed pretty worried about you. Thought something bad had happened or something.”

“Hey, thanks.” Bill clicked his tongue and turned toward the door again. “I’ll just go get her and let her know—”

“She said she’d be back in a few minutes. You wanna just wait here ‘til she gets back? I can make cocoa if you watch the shop while I’m gone.”

“Sounds _great,_ buddy.”

“Haha, okay dude. Does your friend want any?”

“I’d rather die,” Wirt responded flatly, not looking in Soos’s direction.

“All righty then!” Soos glanced away, then jerked a thumb over his shoulder. “Just one then, I guess. Be right back.” He slipped around the corner in a hurry, something that Bill chalked up to wanting to be free of shop-watching duty.

Ten minutes passed without incident. Then twenty. Finally, Bill had to ask, “Gees, where is that kid?”

“Patience,” Wirt reminded him. Despite this, his own was clearly wearing thin.

“And where’s that other meat sack with my cocoa? It had better be hot enough to burn human flesh.”

This seemed to perk Wirt’s ears up. “He didn’t come back?”

“No, stupid,” Bill said in annoyance. Wirt didn’t say anything else but was suddenly absorbed in looking through the front door’s peephole.

Wirt had only just hummed in affirmation when Bill had to ask what he’d seen. “He is waiting on the periphery of the yard, presumably to warn the girl of our presence.”

“We’ll just jump when we see her, then.” Bill leaned up against the door to peer through the peephole. “That idiot’s nothing. We can take him in a second.”

The duo waited in silence while Bill spied through the door for Mabel, who eventually appeared at the end of the road, looking downtrodden. _Perfect_. The moment Soos caught her attention and began talking to her, Bill heaved the door open.

“Dipper!” Mabel yelled in merriment. “Soos, why didn’t you call and tell me Dipper came back?” She ran toward him excitedly, stopping at the threshold to examine him as though he might have been hurt. When she seemed satisfied that he wasn’t, she asked, “Who’s this guy? Love the fake antlers. Totally Christmassy.”

“They’re real, actually,” Wirt pointed out.

“Ohh,” Mabel said, sounding a little uncomfortable. “Well, cool!” She clasped her hands and glanced pointedly toward the stairs. “Dipper, can we talk alone for a sec?”

“Sure thing!” Bill answered, allowing her to push through them into the Shack.

Soos was just approaching the door when Bill caught the girl’s arm, and Wirt slammed the door before the shop owners could make it inside. “Listen, kid,” Bill told the girl, whipping off his sunglasses and tossing them to the floor. “You’re coming with us.”

Mabel was mid-scream when Bill shoved her head into the countertop, effectively knocking her out. “All right, where are we goin’ now?”

Wirt took the girl and threw her over his shoulder unceremoniously. “Upstairs.”

“Upstairs? Sheesh, no fancy hunting grounds for you, eh?”

Wirt stepped aside to allow the front door to fly open, which is when he pinched Soos’s shoulder and watched expressionlessly as the man fainted and hit the floor. “It won’t take long,” he said. “No need for formalities.”

They went upstairs to what was clearly a bedroom, only half of it visibly lived in. In the middle of the back wall was a large, triangular mirror through which they could see the sun setting. It was far from formal but certainly doable. Wirt set the girl down on the floor, willing a carefully-crafted cage of thick branches to form around her limp body. “Now,” he said, “give me the boy.”


	3. The End?

When Dipper opened his eyes he realized two things at once: he was in his own body, but he couldn’t move it. It took him a few seconds to process the problem—that his limbs were tied to a chair—and once he had, it became obvious that _that_ was only the beginning of his worries. In front of him on the ground laid Mabel, enclosed in an intricate-looking wooden cage. Bill floated above her but was facing away from Dipper and talking to a figure in the corner of the room, obscured by shadow.

“What’s happening?” he warbled.

“Oh, good! Look who’s awake!” Bill exclaimed, darting to the dark corner and dragging a tall, brunette man back with him. “Okay boys, no time to shake hands.”

The other man cast wide eyes on him, looking just as confused and frightened as Dipper felt. “My brother,” was all he said, looking frantically around the room for answers to a question he hadn’t asked.

“If you want him back, I’d ask this one,” Bill said, floating over to where Dipper was bound. “What do you say, Pine Tree? You wanna play a little game?”

The stranger’s eyes were sad, almost empty. “Did you have something to do with this?” he asked, his bony hand shaking in front of him as he pointed an accusatory finger.

“No! I have no idea—” Dipper began in a panic, only for something in his foggy memory to suddenly click. “ _You_. You’re that _thing_ from the woods.” He struggled against his restraints, a motion that proved futile. “I should be asking you that question!”

Bill interrupted their conversation by imitating the sound of a clock ticking. “All right, Wirt, you want your brother back?”

The stranger answered the question by whirling around to face Bill. “Where is he?” He sounded so broken. A cold chill went up Dipper’s spine as he glanced down at Mabel, who was lying still on the ground, breathing gently. Unconscious, he thought. He didn’t dare think about why she was brought here.

From the corner, the shadowy figure extended an arm, dangling a lantern from his hand as if to answer Wirt’s question. “You want him back, you play the game,” he said in a deep, melancholic voice.

“What game?” Dipper asked, narrowing his eyes at Bill. “This wasn’t part of the deal.”

“You’d be surprised how many things we can do with a loophole, kid.” Bill said with an edge of sick humor. “A loophole and some common interests.” He snapped his fingers, releasing Dipper from his restraints. Immediately he rushed to his sister’s side and dropped to his knees, yanking uselessly at the wooden bars that separated them.

“Now listen here kiddos,” Bill began, summoning a drink to his side and leaning back against nothing. “You both got someone on the line here.” Dipper looked at his sister, then at Bill. Wirt only stared at the floor. “My friend here,” he paused to jerk a thumb toward the shadow-covered creature, “is looking for a commitment. And I’m looking for some new meat.”

“And?” Dipper snapped. “What do we do?”

Bill’s cackle suddenly lit the room up like lightning, and faster than Dipper could blink he and Wirt were in the woods with no one else in sight, snow so cold it was biting and the night darker than ink. “ _Mabel!_ ” Dipper cried, spinning around in the slush.

“She’s fine, kiddo! Well, for _now_. I’d find her fast, though, if I were you!” Bill’s voice echoed through the cloudless sky with a maniacal quality. Dipper felt his blood run cold.

He only glanced at Wirt for a second. He was a skeleton of a man who looked, for all intents and purposes, like he’d already succumbed to Bill’s wrath. Or that… _beast’s_. Dipper didn’t have the patience to try and make small talk; he broke into a sprint, speeding deeper into the woods. He felt tiny branches scratch his ankles, his face, his hands, but he kept running like that was the only thing he knew how to do.

When he finally ground to a halt in front of a huge, foreign tree, he was surprised to hear the other man stop only a few steps behind. When he turned to look, Wirt’s eyes were large and watering, pupils shrunk into the brown of his irises as he stared up at the gnarled thing before them.

Dipper was panting too hard to even think. “Shit,” he cursed, dropping to his knees. “What is this? Why is this here?”

At length, Wirt finally spoke. “You have to chop it down. The lantern—it needs oil.”

“Oil?” Dipper felt like his ribs were caving in on his lungs. “What lantern?”

Wirt looked around for something in the snow until a look of recognition crossed his face. “There,” he said, pointing to an axe that had materialized behind them.

Dipper didn’t hesitate. He snatched the axe out of the snow and swung full-force at the tree, only to hear it emit a sky-piercing shriek that cut him all the way down to the bone. It was Mabel’s voice.

His arms shook with the force it took to dislodge the axe, and once he had the tree began dripping strange, black fluid. It almost looked like blood, but a sickly odor of sap filled the air.

Wirt looked taken aback. “It’s—she’s—” He didn’t get to articulate the thought.

“Mabel?” Dipper dropped the axe and flattened his palms against the tree’s bark. From somewhere above him, he heard his sister crying.

“What’s it gonna be, Pine Tree?” Bill’s glowing form drooped slowly through the sky as he lowered himself down to eye level. “Chop her down, or let the lantern run out of oil?”

Wirt reacted immediately. “No, no we can’t let that lantern burn out. We have to chop it down.”

Dipper turned on him with fire in his eyes. “What is so important about that damned lantern? My sister is in there!”

“My—my brother,” Wirt replied, putting a hand to his temple. “There must be something we can do to—”

“Nuh-uh, kiddos,” Bill interrupted, wagging a finger at them. “One or the other. And I’d decide _fast_ , if I were you.”

The air felt like palpable static. The quiet that followed was only riddled with the gentle crunch of snow as the shadowy figure from before came upon them, holding his flickering lantern in his thin hand. “You can take her place,” the thing said. “Your oil can fuel this fire just as well as hers can.”

Dipper felt a hand touch his shoulder. Instead of answering, however, he turned around to regard the creature with an icy stare. “What is so important about that lantern, anyhow?”

Wirt reached out for the light with sad eyes. “My brother’s in there,” he said, looking back at Dipper. The flames reflected in his pupils, a burning, hopeless flicker. “I can keep him alive as long as the fire stays lit.”

“Then why does it matter so much to you, huh?” Dipper asked the man in the shadows. _If he were really a man at all,_ he thought. “I don’t imagine that you’d have any motivation to keep his brother alive.”

“We had a deal,” Wirt choked out, looking toward the figure as though he were looking for answers. The figure, however, did not respond.

“Let me tell you something about deals,” Dipper said, not looking at him. “Guys like this always break them.”

Wirt’s resulting sob was agonized, but that was the only moment of grief he allowed himself; he scrambled for the discarded axe and pointed the blade threateningly at the shadowy man.

“Don’t tell me you’re going to listen to _him_ ,” the shadow said evenly, stepping calmly out of the way when Wirt clumsily swung in his direction. “He is a fool. As we speak his sister’s light is dying out, yet he does nothing to save her.”

“She wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for you, Beast,” Wirt said, lifting the axe into the air again with some measure of difficulty. “I wouldn’t be, either.” He went for the lantern this time.

“Don’t!” the Beast hissed, retreating further back. “You have no idea what you’re doing.”

“I think he does,” Dipper said, curling and uncurling his fingers at his sides. His arms weren’t exactly his strongest weapons, but they were all he had at this point and he was prepared to use them.

“Looks like we’ve got a bit of a problem, huh?” Bill asked, leaning on his companion’s shoulder and illuminating a patch of what appeared to be bark.

“It’s over,” Wirt said, voice wavering. “My brother isn’t in there, is he?”

Ignoring Wirt, the Beast focused his attention on angrily swatting away Bill. “ _We_ do not have a problem—you do,” he growled. “You owe me something for coming here. If I don’t get it, there will be consequences.”

“Oooh, scary!” Bill exclaimed, holding his hands up in mock defeat. “Listen, your end of the bargain is falling through as we speak, so I ain’t givin’ you nothin’.” He crossed his arms and turned away, which only fueled the Beast’s rage.

“You were always so recalcitrant,” the Beast said to him.

“And you always use those big words!” Bill replied cheekily, seconds before an axe sliced directly through him from behind. Unharmed, he turned to face Dipper, who looked back at him with wide eyes. “Are you forgetting the basic elements here, kid? You. Can’t. Hit. Me!”

“But I can,” the Beast grumbled darkly, yanking him back by the top of his head and watching him flail in his grasp. “And I think you’ll find there is a way we can settle this.”

“Oh yeah?” Bill asked. “Enlighten me!”

The Beast did not hesitate. He thrust the lantern into Bill’s hand and stepped back with arms extended. “I can be your flesh, if you will keep the light burning.”

“A demon making a deal with a demon, huh?” Bill’s resulting laugh made the woods feel frigid and haunted. He flew toward the Beast. They collided with a flash of light.

Dipper and Wirt unconsciously stepped closer to each other as they backed away from the crackling specimen that was coming to life right before their eyes. Dipper dropped the axe in preparation to run, but Wirt picked it up again and looked toward the forming monster with eyes narrowed. “If we defeat it, we can get your sister back,” he said, grip tightening on the handle. “At least, it’s your only hope.”

“Why are you helping me?” Dipper asked, looking at him as they continued to inch backward through the snow.

“The Beast took my brother. He tricked me. I won’t let him get his hands on anyone else ever again.” He charged toward the light just as it died, revealing the creature underneath. He felt the axe touch down on something and heard it crack, but all he received in return was cruel laughter.

The Beast looked at him with round, yellow eyes, and the next thing he knew he was face-down in the snow at Dipper’s feet.

“The game has changed,” the thing said with Bill’s voice. “It’s either the girl or you two.”

Wirt looked up at Dipper, who helped him up out of the snow. With matching levels of determination, they turned their gazes to the monster. They didn’t have to speak to know that their minds were made up.


	4. Hic et Nunc

It was a race from the start, and Dipper’s only concern was to run faster than his opponent. Staying still was a death sentence. Beside him, Wirt narrowly dodged a swipe from the Beast’s massive branch of a hand.

They dashed through the dark woods, tailed by the towering figure with bright yellow eyes. The axe they’d tried to use before still protruded from its head, allowing a steady line of black, shining substance to flow from the wound down the length of its face.

A plan of action occurred to Dipper first. Quickly, he reached for Wirt’s hand and grabbed it tightly, jerking him abruptly to the right so that they both tumbled down a short decline in the snow. While they ducked in their makeshift trench, the Beast had to slow down and retrace his steps, each movement an audible crunch in the snow. While the steps got closer, Dipper was frantically whispering something into Wirt’s ear.

The moment those glowing eyes came back into focus, Dipper leapt for the axe, only to find himself unable to lodge it loose. Wirt rushed up and circled his arms around the other’s midsection, pulling back just hard enough to wretch the weapon free.

“Thanks,” Dipper breathed, too energized to bother being embarrassed.

Wirt had no time to reply before the Beast made another swipe, sharp branches leaving nicks across Dipper’s collar. In retaliation the man swung the axe again, this time aiming for the thinner, more breakable trunks of the Beast’s legs.

With a muted whacking sound, the metal wedged halfway through the left leg, giving Wirt just enough of a distraction to make a dash for the lantern.

“You think you’re real clever, huh?” Bill’s voice asked, just before the body he piloted grabbed a fistful of Wirt’s hair and dragged him forcefully back across the ground. “Think again!”

Dipper threw himself at the Beast’s arm and grappled with it until Wirt could get free and grab the lantern. “Kind of a cheap shot,” the latter said, taking a step back.

The Beast made an unholy growling sound and lifted Dipper clear off the ground, slamming him back against a nearby tree. With the breath effectively knocked out of him, he remained crumpled in the snow, wide eyes on Wirt.

“Oh no you don’t!” Bill yelled, starting toward him. Before he could process what was going on, his injured leg snapped right in half, sending him face-first into the snow.

Wirt couldn’t help but flash Dipper a huge grin and run over, prize in hand. Dipper struggled to his feet and put his arms around the other’s shoulders, halfway hugging, halfway balancing himself. Surprised, Wirt hugged back.

“I’m sorry about your brother,” Dipper told him.

“Let’s save your sister,” Wirt replied, watching the other take a step back. He lifted the lantern, poised to smash it against the nearest tree.

“Destroy it and the girl dies!”

The men turned to look at the Beast, who stood on one leg as the other one began to sprout, infant tendrils curling around one another in an effort to slowly rebuild.

“He’s lying,” Dipper said, eyes shifting back to Wirt. “Smash it.”

“What if I’m not?” A wide grin practically split the Beast’s face in two. “Are you sure that’s something you wanna risk, Pine Tree?”

Wirt and Dipper exchanged uneasy glances before the former decided to speak. “Your power rides on the backs of others. You can’t do us any harm if we don’t let you.”

“I wouldn’t say that.” Those eyes glowed gold, and beneath them the monster’s sharp teeth began dripping with saliva. “This form is just as tangible as you two, and you know what I’m gonna do with it?” Bill’s voice didn’t pause long enough for an answer and instead roared, “I’m gonna tear you to shreds!”

“Shit, run!” Dipper yelled, yanking Wirt to the side not a second before the Beast smashed head-first into the tree.

“These antlers do a lot more than just look pretty!” The menacing voice followed frighteningly close behind them; they didn’t dare glance back.

“The big tree!” Wirt said breathlessly. “Your sister! I have an idea!” Then, without missing a beat, he took a sharp turn, effectively leaving Dipper behind to stutter to a halt in his confusion.

“What are you—” He didn’t have time to finish before the Beast tackled him to the ground and yanked his shoulder to roll him onto his back. When he looked up he was pinned beneath the huge creature, a towering mass of bark etched over with what looked like a hundred agonized faces, their mouths open in perpetual, silent screams. The Beast stared back with the glowing eyes of Bill Cipher, giving Dipper a sense of déjà vu to accompany his dread.

“You’ve done it this time, kid!”

Dipper cried out when the Beast lashed out at his face with sharp fingers, managing to tear lines across his cheek before Dipper had the sense to push back against the creature’s shoulders. “Break the damn lamp!” he yelled, using to his knee to try and wedge the Beast away from him.

That had not been the brightest thing to say, he realized a moment later. The Beast stood up and glowered in the direction that Wirt had previously disappeared. “As much as I’d love to turn you into scrap meat, I have more pressing concerns.”

Dipper hopped to his feet and grabbed the Beast’s arm, trying not to balk at the sensation of a warm, living body with bark for skin. With an irritated grunt sanctioned by Bill, the Beast grabbed Dipper’s hand and yanked it off of him, then drove his elbow into the forearm with a terrible crack.

The worst Dipper had ever done was dislocate his shoulder, but this was on a whole different level of pain. In the time it took for him to suppress a wail with gritted teeth, the Beast had already fled. Dipper didn’t follow, instead taking deep breaths as if that would somehow help his shattered bones repair themselves. He didn’t move until he smelled something burning.

_What the hell was Wirt doing?_

Steeling himself, Dipper took a deep breath, clutched his broken arm to his chest with his free hand, and ran. Each step was a jolt of fresh agony in his arm but he’d be damned if he let his sister die.

By the time he did make it to the tree he realized, with a sinking feeling, that the burning smell _was_ his sister. He scoured the area for the Beast but all he found was Wirt, holding the lantern in one hand with his other outstretched as if reaching for something.

Forgetting his injury for a moment, Dipper used his free hand to jerk Wirt backward by the collar of his shirt. “What the hell is wrong with you?” he yelled, making an attempt to shove him back into the snow but only succeeded in making the man wobble backward a step. “My sister’s in there!”

“I know,” Wirt said, his outstretched hand moving to face Dipper. Then, suddenly, he was pointing toward the branches above. “We have to hurry before she gets hurt.”

“What do you—” Dipper cast wild eyes to where the other was pointing.

Instead of cracking off, the branches of the enormous tree were shriveling, then drifting to the ground like rotted petals. He watched them peel off one by one, until there were none left. That was when Wirt shook him back into reality.

“Come on, we have to get her out before the fire gets to her.”

“What do you mean?” Dipper asked, finding the words to his previously-unspoken question. He was dangerously close to hysterics. “Why is the tree on fire if it’s going to hurt her?”

“I had to get us a way in. We lost the stupid axe so this was my only other option.”

“ _In?_ The tree is hollow?”

“And it’s got your sister inside,” Wirt affirmed, fixing a hard stare on the blaze. “Get on my shoulders.”

Dipper shook his head and inhaled sharply when he heard his sister let out a shriek of fear. Without further hesitation he obeyed, climbing awkwardly onto the other’s shoulders and managing to stop himself from flailing his arms as he was lifted. “Wow, you’re stronger than you look,” he commented.

“Lots of practice,” Wirt said morosely.

Dipper didn’t press the issue. “Okay, now what?”

“Um…”

“‘ _Um’?_ You don’t have a plan?” Dipper exclaimed, equal parts exasperated and terrified.

“The plan was just ‘grab her,’ it wasn’t fancy!”

“Grab her through the _fire_?”

“We don’t really have another choice!”

Dipper took a shaky breath and nodded in fake confidence. “Okay, all right, okay,” he repeated to himself, watching as the flames burned down the tree’s trunk.

“As soon as you can see down into the base, tell her to jump up and catch your hands.”

“Can you carry both of us?” Dipper asked, bewildered.

“No idea,” Wirt said, voice more nervous than Dipper would have liked. “But it’s this or she burns.”

“You did not think this through!” Dipper exclaimed, kicking his side gently. “Let me down! New plan!”

Before Wirt could move, a voice they dreaded hearing arose from behind them, dripping malice with every word. “Need some help, boys?”

Dipper didn’t hear the footsteps until after the antlers stuck into the tree on either side of his waist, almost as though the sound had trouble catching up to the Beast’s speed. He was too scared to scream, but Wirt was fairly vocal in his stead. When he looked down, he could see that the Beast’s arms were wrapped firmly around the other’s chest, like some perverse sort of embrace.

“I’ll scramble your brains,” the Beast growled, Bill’s voice growing deep with rage.

Without ceremony, Dipper thrust the heel of his shoe into the Beast’s face, eliciting an annoyed cry but nothing more. He could now clearly see thin, spindly branches creeping their way down Wirt’s legs. Just a foot above the top of his own head, the fire blazed on. He considered that this just might be the day he died.

Luckily, an idea struck him. He craned his neck and looked up at the charred pieces of bark where the base of the fire was eating downward. He closed his eyes, ducked his head, and pounded on it with as much force as his good hand could muster. As he expected, it crumbled away with a series of cracks.

“What are you doing?” the Beast hissed, raising an arm up to grab the back of Dipper’s jacket.

“Breaking and entering,” he said, pounding on the tree until he cleared a space big enough to get his arm into. The fire was now dispersing on either side of the hole, narrowly avoiding singing his hair.

“Dipper!” Mabel yelled from inside, “I can see you!”

“Mabel!” he called back. “I’m coming!”

“ _Hurry_ ,” Wirt said, his tone urgent.

Dipper looked down again to see that the branches had reached the other man’s hips, effectively rooting him to the ground. The Beast, satisfied with this, began to jerk his head in attempt to free his antlers from the tree. “You’re gonna get it, Pine Tree!”

“Shit,” he cursed aloud, punching the tree to pieces until his knuckles were bloody. He had to hurry, and this just wasn’t quick enough. “Mabel!” he called again, thrusting his arm into the narrow space he’d carved out. “Jump!”

Wirt chimed in, sounding alarmed. “Dipper that’s going to—”

“I know, it’s going to yank my arm out of socket,” he said, cutting Wirt off. His voice cracked when the Beast moved his head again, dislodging his antlers bit by bit. “But my other arm’s already broken, so I might as well, right?”

Wirt winced. He closed his eyes when he heard the pop.

“Oh my god!” Mabel cried, letting go immediately. “Was that—”

“Just _grab_ it, Mabel!” Dipper yelled back, eyes screwed shut and teeth clenched tightly. “Grab it and climb out.” He instantly felt Mabel grab ahold of him again, followed a second later by her free hand come down hard on his injured shoulder. Her weight shifted onto that arm, and he heard more than saw the explosion of bark from where she’d punched out a hole big enough to fit her other hand through. “I’m so sorry,” she said to him, eyes bloodshot from crying.

“Go,” Dipper replied through gritted teeth. He dragged his arm away so she could hoist herself onto the ledge on her stomach.

The Beast finally yanked himself free with a maniacal laugh. The pointed ends of his antlers dripped the same black substance from earlier, and Dipper realized at once that it wasn’t blood, but oil. He could smell it.

And then, in the space of a second, the ghastly Beast was on the ground with Mabel standing atop his back, her chest heaving. With a rage that Dipper had never seen in her before, she stomped on his head, over and over until her foot went right through it. When she pulled it out again, it was dripping black. She stepped away and looked up at the crackling tree, then back down at the strange man from earlier.

“Dipper,” she began, “Who is this?”

“My name’s Wirt,” the stranger answered. “And I was wondering if maybe you could help me out of this.”

“He just got mixed up in all of this,” Dipper explained, watching Mabel tear the bark away from Wirt’s legs.

“No,” Wirt said, voice sad. “I _caused_ all of this. I’m so sorry for putting you two in danger. I should have known…”

“But you didn’t,” Dipper replied; he got no response.

Once Mabel had freed him she rejoined her brother’s side. All three of them turned to look at the Beast who shocked them by looking right back, head lolling to the side and leaking oil. “You might have destroyed this useless body,” he said, “but you haven’t defeated me, you idiots!”

Dipper and Mabel were poised to fight until Bill began speaking again. “What the…? I can’t get out of this stupid thing!”

“The Beast’s body was made to collect souls,” Wirt said, as if this had just dawned on him. “You’re stuck, just like the rest of them, which means…” He lifted the lantern up and watched Bill’s pupils shrink.

“No!” he cried. “Wait! I’ll give you anything! Whatever you want! I’ll get your brother back!”

Wirt grimaced, but his tone remained steady. “I’m done making deals with demons.” Without further commentary, he dropped the lantern into the snow and slammed his foot down on top of it.


	5. Epilogue

The windchill was biting, but Wirt had learned how to bundle up against the tumultuous weather of Gravity Falls. It wasn’t unlike home, but it did seem to change temperature on a dime. He kicked a foot through the slush idly, only stopping when he heard crunching steps approach him from behind.

“How are you?” Dipper asked.

It had been a long night for all of them. Wirt sighed and watched with dull eyes as his breath lifted from his lips in a soft mist. “I don’t know,” he answered truthfully. “We won, but it doesn’t really feel like it.”

They stood a few feet away from the Mystery Shack now, with Mabel and Soos watching them from the porch and exchanging hushed whispers. “I know you can never replace the brother you lost,” Dipper began, then tilted his head back to look at his sister. From where she sat, bundled beneath a large blanket, she smiled at him. “But listen, if you ever need support, we’re here for you.”

Wirt felt a tiny bit of worry melt off his mind. For the first time in a while, he smiled. “Thank you, Dipper. That means more to me than you could possibly know.”

//

“Grunkle Stan! Grunkle Ford!” Mabel exclaimed, bounding over to the men, who had just stepped off the bus. “We are so glad you’re here! There’s _so_ much to tell you.”

“We have a lot to tell you too, kiddo,” Stan said, scooping her up into a hug.

“Sea monsters and babes?” Mabel asked, flashing a toothy smile.

“Sea monsters, at least,” Stan replied with a laugh. He set the girl down and waved at Dipper, Soos, and the strange young man that was approaching with them. “Who’s the new guy?” he asked, smiling pleasantly. Dipper and Mabel thought he looked a lot happier now than he used to. Ford, too.

“Um,” Wirt started, ducking his head a little. “I’m Wirt. I sort of came here by accident and I’m just getting used to this, ah…kind of town.”

Stan and Ford exchanged knowing glances, and the latter nodded. “It is a very strange kind of place,” he agreed. “Welcome to Gravity Falls,” he added, as an afterthought. “You’ll fit in just fine, I bet.”

Dipper rubbed the back of his neck and smiled awkwardly. “You have no idea.”

//

Stan, Ford, and Soos regarded the kids’ tale of what had happened with three vastly different expressions. Ford looked supremely worried while Soos looked almost reverent, but Stan faced them with a grin. “I’m proud of ya, kids. Taking after your old man and kicking some butt, huh?”

Dipper rolled his eyes good-naturedly. “More than expected.”

Mabel held out her bandaged forearm. “I have an axe wound!” she cried, looking proud. Dipper, with both of his arms in slings, squinted at her.

Wirt chewed his lip but said nothing, and Dipper leaned over to nudge him with his good shoulder in assurance that everything was okay now.

“You shoulda been there to see the doctor’s face,” Soos said, only halfway laughing. “It was…it was pretty bad, dude.”

Ford grimaced. “Dislocated shoulder, eh? Been there too. A few times.”

Stan slapped his brother on the back, hard. “Haha, not as many times as I have!”

Dipper and Mabel shared a smile, then transitioned the look to Wirt, who was staring off into the distance. Softly, Dipper nudged him again to get his attention.

Wirt, feeling his chest tighten, tried to contain his grin. This could work, he thought. This could be his new family, tucked away in a little shack in a little town called Gravity Falls.


End file.
